New Curtain Fabric - These carpet-like fuzzy blue curtains gives my emotional age a three decade boo

We just bought a 1994 Ford Econoline conversion van camper. We had outgrown our charming but cramped and delicate vintage travel trailer, and wanted to take our rv living onto the fastlane (ie. highway) with a conversion van that could go the distance.
Our 20 year old Ford Econoline Coachman conversion van is chock full of amenities... the trade-off is that it comes fully equipped with the charm of a nursing home waiting room -circa 1981. RV redecorating sounds like a good challenge to me!
While a new conversion van (or class B motorhome) can ring in around $40k-$50k, used ones like ours are a relative steal so even the budget-challenged hawaiian airlines web mail can afford hawaiian airlines web mail a small DIY redecorating budget...great for those with the glamping bug - like me. This lens will accompany me on my journey to renovate our campy van into camper cool! Let's go GlamVannin'!
We like to name our vehicles. The personality enhances the fun of our travel adventures. For this larger than life vintage van crowned hawaiian airlines web mail with an extra ducktail of a top and dressed in white and blue sueded plush it seemed obvious to take inspiration in Elvis. And, in tribute our first major trip will be to Graceland. It will be fun to see where we can add in some decorative nods to the King in our interior design... wouldn't it be great to get that belt buckle mounted over the Ford logo on the grill? Do I know any welders?
hawaiian airlines web mail We'll call him Elvis and try to embrace yet improve the campy heritage of vanning. Look - a bunk bed over the drivers - who didn't want one of those as a kid? My hubby and toddler hawaiian airlines web mail are already fighting over it... good thing there's a double pullout couch for me and the terrier!
We'll call him Elvis and try to embrace yet improve the campy heritage of vanning. Look - a bunk bed over the drivers - who didn't want one of those as a kid? My hubby and toddler are already fighting over it... good thing there's a double pullout couch for me and the terrier!
18 feet makes for a relaxing evening with a sink, two burner gas stove, fridge, microwave, A/C, tv hookup shower... but the faux wood decor really puts a girl to sleep... this is a '94 van, but its designer must have hit his peak in the early 1980's.
Racing stripes in baby blue are the only thing that distinguishes us from the local Senior center's bus. This tranquil exterior hides a 5.8l V8 that can tow 7,000 pounds... and drinks gas like a camel in the desert.
I never thought I'd find such a great use for white pearlized faux alligator vinyl. But how slick would that look to replace the dirty blue fabric on the door panels? Now I'll have to update the door pulls to white too!
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As we contemplated adding the van to our fleet, my hubby inspected the vehicles functionality and I spent some time mulling the design challenge. I looked hawaiian airlines web mail around at the tired plush, the dirty fabric panels, heavy fuzzy drapes, hawaiian airlines web mail pink and blue speckled vinyl wall board and fake vinyl composite wood cabinet boxes blue shag carpet and pondered;
1) What style works in a vintage van? Can I come up with a stylish way to either dial back the decades with some funky modern elements or embrace the kitsch in a way that really emphasizes the camp in camping?
I made my bucket list below and hubby gave the rig a thumbs up. We decided to welcome Elvis to our fleet and bring him back to life (or at least give him a facelift). As we complete each of the tasks below we'll add a module to show you our solutions.
Paint the Vinyl Wallboard - I have to admit, this thought gave me the most pause as I'd been taught that paint over vinyl is a dubious task. But there's hawaiian airlines web mail nothing that says 80's nursing home more than powder blue pink so its gotta go.
Paint the Cabinets - Again, hawaiian airlines web mail another paint over vinyl conundrum. Especially with an element that would be subject to high wear and tear due to the small living quarters, toddler dog. But coming from a vintage travel trailer with real wood paneling to this poor imitation added further insult to injury... it has to go.
New Curtain Fabric - These carpet-like fuzzy blue curtains gives my emotional age a three decade boost - in the wrong direction. Outta here. Bring in some style and character without getting too crazy... With eight window treatments a divider curtain, hawaiian airlines web mail this will be a lot of work and a major expense. Choose wisely!
Door and Headliner Panel Reupholstery - I have zero auto experience so this seemed a bit outta my league, but the dirty blue fabric was one of the first things you see entering the van. I think it is worth the learning curve.
Sofa Reupholstery - The one real functionality problem we found with the van is that the previous owner had replaced the fridge and didn't realize that the newer fridge had a curved front that prevented the fold-down couch from folding down fully. We'd either needed to find a new fridge that didn't have the same problem or modify the couch. Since I wanted to update the fabric anyway and was able to find an auto upholsterer who felt he could solve the design hawaiian airlines web mail flaw, we got two wins in one. I felt the new fabric would go a long way towards hawaiian airlines web mail playing down the light blue overload.
I wanted a modern fabric that will work with our white and blue exterior and bright blue rugs and have an element hawaiian airlines web mail of fun. I also wanted a heavy enough weight hawaiian airlines web mail for the curtains that wouldn't require adding a lining. Unfortunately I have expensive tastes. Most of my picks were retailing at about $65/yd hawaiian airlines web mail at fabric hawaiian airlines web mail stores and decorator shops. I did a quick search and found the same fabric available on Amazon at HALF PRICE! Here they are;
With its beautiful white "suit," blue suede interior, and blast from the past style, we named our van "Elvis." And what is more fun that bringing hawaiian airlines web mail a little Graceland hawaiian airlines web mail into our decor? I'm not sure exactly how it will all net out... hawaiian airlines web mail but I'm going to give it a "swing."
Painting vinyl laminate hawaiian airlines web mail cabinets is possible with the right prep and primer. Zinsser is one of the many new latex primers designed to cover smooth surfaces like plastic, vinyl and laminate which don't respond to sanding. My cabinets were combo varnished wood doors laminate hawaiian airlines web mail faux wood boxes.Some like sponge rollers for fast application but I prefer hawaiian airlines web mail the traditional brush finish to the orange peel finish of the sponge rollers.
Painting vinyl laminate cabinets hawaiian airlines web mail is possible hawaiian airlines web mail with the right prep and primer. Zinsser is one of the many new latex primers designed to cover smooth surfaces like plastic, vinyl and laminate which don't respond to sanding. My cabinets were combo varnished wood doors laminate faux wood boxes.Some like sponge rollers for fast application but I prefer the traditional brush finish to the orange peel finish of the sponge rollers.
Rustoleum now offers an Ultra-cover spray paint that is advertised to bond to plastic as well as other challenging surfaces. Just to be safe, I'm still using a primer first on the vinyl wallboard that I can't sand. These spray paints hawaiian airlines web mail primers will be used on the pieces I'm able to sand like the wooden door panels, hawaiian airlines web mail consoles curtain rods and the plastic hawaiian airlines web mail trim pieces like door handles, hawaiian airlines web mail vents and speaker covers.
Natural white walls connect hawaiian airlines web mail the upper wallboard hawaiian airlines web mail to the natural white rug on the ceiling. The middle walls are a dark grey tying them together with the newly upholstered grey couch, dark blue cabinets hawaiian airlines web mail blue rug.
A sneak peak at the 4 colors; natural, grey, navy eye-catching chartreuse. My mechanic got a glimpse today; first time since the paint job and he gave it a big thumbs hawaiian airlines web mail up and said he couldn't believe what a difference it made ... and that made my day!
I'll admit I was nervous about taking the plunge to paint the RV interior. Vinyl surfaces and paint are not historically good pairings. The folks at the paint store told me there are many new paint products designed especially for plastics, vinyl and cabinets. Key to success; clean surfaces, good prep and drying time.... patience in other words. Not my strong suit.
Choosing the Paint Colors for the Van's Interior: Some think that dark colors make a space look smaller. I disagree. I feel dark colors create a depth and mood that give a sense of depth and make it hard to judge how close they really are. I've had great results with this in my home's narrow hawaiian airlines web mail entrance hall and smallest bathroom. For that reason, and because I had to work with the fixed elements such as the medium hawaiian airlines web mail blue rug, I chose a dark blue for the lower cabinets around the couch and the kitchen and a dark grey for the midwalls up to the bunk rail top cabinets. hawaiian airlines web mail For the upper wall and cabinets I chose a natural white to tie into the off-white carpeted ceiling. With all the lower elements in a dark tone and all the upper elements in a light tone, the former visual clutter of cabinets, walls, upholstery, rug, curtains windows is minimized to just two tonal zones. Sound strange? Stick with me and compare the before and after photos. You'll see what I mean. Oh